TheGreenViper8
Absolute banger. Always fights with Triple Deluxe for my favourite game in the series. Super Star Ultra takes everything lovable about the SNES original and enhances it while adding a whole load of new, worthwhile content into the mix. A whopper of a Kirby game, and one I find myself unable to put down any time I play it.
1995
Although it starts out fun and the graphical enhancements wow you, Kirby's Dream Land 2 takes no time at all to devolve into a tedious, frustrating mess of a game that lacks a real identity of its own outside of its use of the animal friends. Finishing it felt like a slog, and roadblocks never felt fair unlike other games in the series. Unlike most of the rest of the series, can't say I plan to revisit this one.
The definitive way to play Kirby's Adventure, and one of the pink puffball's best games to date. Looks gorgeous, features some great orchestrations of the NES classics, and I love all of the level themes on offer here. Level design is fun, but not exactly memorable but that's something that can be said for the majority of the series. As a result of it all, it's one I find myself regularly revisiting.
1992
Neat launchpad for the Kirby series, but after an initial playthrough, it's not much more fun that just being a novelty due to its lack of copy abilities. Soundtrack is for sure its crowning feature, there's a reason that so much of it still appears in most games today. Despite that, it's pretty hard to beat the chiptune bangers from the original.
Although still a good bit of fun, Spark 2 feels nowhere near as polished as the predecessor due to the shift to 3D, and all of the challenges that come with such a change. What results is a game that's still well designed, but a lot of the fun comes from circumventing that design and finding ways to either break the game or skip through it for the sake of casual speedrunning, which I doubt was Lake's intention when programming the game. There's a good deal of enjoyment to be had here, but it's far more polarising and less inherently good than the first game.
2020
Played with: Ace Croft
By far the best game in the Streets of Rage series, and a must-play for fans, newcomers or seasoned beat-em-up veterans. The game does a lot to appease players with a lack of skill such as myself, and playing co-op also tips the scales in your favour if you find yourself struggling.
By far the best game in the Streets of Rage series, and a must-play for fans, newcomers or seasoned beat-em-up veterans. The game does a lot to appease players with a lack of skill such as myself, and playing co-op also tips the scales in your favour if you find yourself struggling.
The hate this remake gets is seriously undeserved, but the passionate fanbase who wanted this remake to bring back all of its beloved flaws are likely to blame, and should've known that it was unreasonable to expect them to port glitches into a completely new engine.
Rehydrated is a little rough around the edges (such as some silly bugs and the new promised content being very underwhelming) but overall it's still a very servicable, pretty looking way to play an already great game.
Rehydrated is a little rough around the edges (such as some silly bugs and the new promised content being very underwhelming) but overall it's still a very servicable, pretty looking way to play an already great game.
Spark takes everything that worked about the games it riffs on and mashes them into one cohesive package that by all sensibilities shouldn't work as well as it does, yet they manage to melt together like butter.
Only complaint to be had is the game's underwhelming performance on most PCs due to the outdating engine powering this beast, so many users may suffer slowdown, screentearing or even worse issues due to the engine holding the game back. As this game has never been fixed in the years since and has not made its way to other platforms (as promised) as of now, points have been docked accordingly as many users won't be able to suffer through the performance issues.
Only complaint to be had is the game's underwhelming performance on most PCs due to the outdating engine powering this beast, so many users may suffer slowdown, screentearing or even worse issues due to the engine holding the game back. As this game has never been fixed in the years since and has not made its way to other platforms (as promised) as of now, points have been docked accordingly as many users won't be able to suffer through the performance issues.
A guilty pleasure game. Although it has been superceded by Sonic Mania and the like, Sonic 4 Episode 2's new mechanics added a level of depth to the Classic Sonic formula that while not needed, added a level of enjoyment to the mix for me. The tighter, more refined controls and (in my opinion) underrated graphics and artstyle should get a bit more love than they do, but the bland level design and dying-cat-riffic soundtrack probably get all the flack they deserve.
2017
The perfect Classic Sonic game. Refreshing twists on worn out level themes and interesting uses of the characters' core abilities plus an abundance of branching paths all create the perfect momentum-based 2D Sonic game. The visual presentation is beautiful, and the audio presentation is an absolute delight. Even if you've never been keen on the Mega Drive games this takes its roots in, this is one hell of a game. This will arguably go down in history as Sonic's greatest game, and a triumph for passionate fan projects everywhere.
2011
The perfect modern Sonic game, nothing before or after comes close to the level of technical marvelry on display here, even if my personal preferences lean more towards other modern games.
Modern stages are a perfect test of reaction times and feel satisfying to master while having enough hidden branches and paths to encourage replayability. Classic stages have maybe having aged worse due to the slightly underwhelming physics when compared to more recent titles, but are still great fun to run through and offer lots of enjoyable setpieces that give it a different flavour to the games Classic Sonic's appearance owes to. Great music and dropdead gorgeous graphics help to seal the package. If you have to play any Sonic game as a newcomer to the series, this is likely the one.
Modern stages are a perfect test of reaction times and feel satisfying to master while having enough hidden branches and paths to encourage replayability. Classic stages have maybe having aged worse due to the slightly underwhelming physics when compared to more recent titles, but are still great fun to run through and offer lots of enjoyable setpieces that give it a different flavour to the games Classic Sonic's appearance owes to. Great music and dropdead gorgeous graphics help to seal the package. If you have to play any Sonic game as a newcomer to the series, this is likely the one.
An all-time classic for a reason. For as much as I love and prefer the prequel, Transformed is a step up in almost every department and it can stand proud knowing that to this day, it was the only mascot kart racer to ever truly give Mario Kart a run for its money. Great tracks, physics, items, music and everything else I've missed. Only flaw is the game's somewhat flaky compatibility with modern PCs (game struggles with keeping FPS cap in place if PC can handle well over 60FPS, online matchmaking has a tendency to crash out frequently), but as this game ran perfectly on PCs at the time, it's hard to hold these pretty big flaws against it for too long.
The addition of a story mode is a great touch and creates a fulfilling and varied way to unlock all characters and mods that doesn't just feel like ticking a checklist of requirements.
The addition of a story mode is a great touch and creates a fulfilling and varied way to unlock all characters and mods that doesn't just feel like ticking a checklist of requirements.
A fun but punishing platformer that teases the brain as often as it requires you to react quickly. Add the absolutely stompin' soundtrack into the equation, and MSF1&2 have become some of my all-time favourites for a reason.
2014
A fun enough game, but I didn't find myself enjoying it anywhere near as much as the games it attempts to iterate on. Add to that the fact that the story/cutscenes are generally quite poor, it's a game I haven't found the need to play again since completing my initial playthrough.
2018
A breathtaking reimagining of my favourite puzzle series that had me staring at my screen wide-eyed from start to finish. Wouldn't expect anything less from Mizuguchi and co. A must play.